Dental Hygiene- Is Your Mouth Getting Proper Care?

I am finally back after a few very busy weeks! Terribly sorry for the delay.

Today I realized that with drainage caused by my inevitable seasonal allergies I had very unpleasant smelling breath. I am in the habit of brushing my teeth in the morning and at night, as well as using mouthwash. Since this wasn't working I decided to look up some ways to help prevent halitosis(bad breath) which is caused by a build up of germs and bacteria.

This is what I found:

• Gargle with warm(as warm as you can handle, the warmer the better) salt water
• Hydrogen Peroxide rinse does wonders for killing germ. Just dilute the hydrogen peroxide you get from the store to a half and half ratio and swish around your mouth. The same as with mouth wash-don't swallow.
• Unwanted germs and bacteria live on your toothbrush, so its important to clean it by more than just rinsing with water. You can clean it BEFORE you use it by dunking it in a Dixie cup of your handy dandy hydrogen peroxide, then rinse with water.

A few everyday tips for a clean mouth:

• Brush your teeth thoroughly TWICE a day
• Make flossing part of your DAILY routine as bacteria and food particles get stuck between your teeth even if you cant feel it.
• Don't forget to brush your Tongue
• Replace your toothbrush every 3-4 MONTHS

For more information, you can check out the American Dental Association for their suggestions on toothpaste and other products.

Brush your teeth, and floss for a beautiful smile. If your breath needs to be spiced up, try some mouthwash or gargling with salt water to keep unwanted bacteria at bay.

Smiles,

Eliza

Are you washing your hands enough?

Hello, how are you today?

How many times did you wash your hands today? Let me see... I've washed mine about 7 times maybe. Washing your hands is a very simple but important way to help keep you well. You should be washing your hands when:

• you are preparing food


• after you use the bathroom


• before you clean a cut or wound


• after you blow your nose or sneeze


• before putting in or taking out contacts (if you wear them)


• after taking out the trash or changing a babys diper


• after taking care of someone whose sick

The Mayo Clinic recommends that you wash your hands for 20 seconds, making sure to scrub your wrists, plams, tops of your hands and the fingernails. I know this is gonna sound bad but I used be a little lax on washing my hands all the times I should have. Recently though I bought some new apple cider scented soap, and not I cannot wait to wash my hands because it smells so good.

Next time you're about to cook dinner, or after your sneeze make sure you wash your hands!

Peace and Wellness. Thank you for reading,

Eliza

Keep Healthy With Vitamin C

Welcome to Prevention week. As many are worried about getting sick or catching the dreaded Swine Flu I am going to offer a tip each day this week about how to stay well.

Every day with my breakfast, I like to have a glass of (not from concentrate) grapefruit juice. Not only does my glass of juice wake me up with its slightly bitter taste, but it gives me a dose of vitamin C. I'm sure that you heard or seen the commercials for Emergen-C, and heard about how vitamin C will help to keep you from getting sick. A study done in 2007 showed that people who get their daily recommendation of vitamin C would be sick for shorter duration of time than would people who didn't.

Although there is not a lot of proof that vitamin C will help with the common cold, it is an important antioxidant that helps keep your body strong and healthy. It helps to iron to be absorbed by the body, as well as forming collagen. Vitamin C helps to reduce and protect against free radical damage in your body. Research also shows that vitamin C is involved in the metabolizing of cholesterol, which can help prevent gallstones and high blood cholesterol levels!

Where's Vitamin C Hiding?

*Oranges*Orange Juice*Grapefruit*Grapefruit Juice*Strawberries*Tomatoes*Sweet Red Bell Peppers*Broccoli*Potatoes*Garlic*Apricots*Carrots*Blueberries*Onions*Raw Green Beans*Cranberries * Summer Squash *Watermelon *Pineapple *Celery * Asparagus* Spinach* Kiwi*Cantaloupe*Romaine Lettuce* Kale*Brussel Sprouts*Papaya* Parsley* Lemon Juice*

Just to name a few

Depending on your age and circumstance there is an average amount of recommended vitamin C you should be getting. Take a look at this chart to see what your vitamin C intake should be.

0- 6 mo: 40 mg M 9-13 yr: 45 mg F 9-13 yr: 45 mg Pregnant 18 yr 80 mg
6-12 mo: 50 mg M 14-18 yr: 75 mg F 14-18 yr: 65 mg Pregnant 19 yr+ 85mg
1-3 yr: 15 mg M 19 yr+: 90 mg F 19 yr+: 75mg Breastfeeding 18 yr 115 mg
4-8 yr: 25 mg Breastfeeding 19 yr+ 120 mg


Thanks,Peace and Wellness,
Eliza

Disease Prevention

I had an idea for this week. It seems that everyone is worried about swine flu, as it continues to spread. So this week, all my posts will be about little things you can do to stay healthy and keep from getting sick. Whatcha think?

Promoting Proper Posture

I would like to appologise for my lapse of posting, I am going to attempt to make it up today. How was your weekend?

When you were younger did you mum or dad ever tell you to stand up straight or youd have bad posture when you got old? My mum did all the time. Unfortunatly it never stopped me from comfortable slouching in my seat. Now as Im older I recently realized that I have horrible posture and I have decided that Im going to try improve it a little bit. Do you stand up straight and have good posture?

Here are some reasons why good posture is benefitial

1. Good posture will make you stand up taller, giving you a confident and empowering aura when you walk into a room.
2. Having good posture will help to allow you to take deeper and fuller breath
3. Over time bad posture can cause muscle weakness and or tightness.
4. Good posture can lead to more energy and fewer aches and pains.
5. Gravity exerts alot of force on our bodies at all times. If you have proper posture the force from gravity will be evenly distributed so as not to stress any of your muscles, ligaments or bones.
6. Your posture affects may facets of your daily body movement, from the opening and closing of your jaw to keeping your inner organs in their correct positions!

If your a little skeptical, try this exercise once with bad posture and then again with good posture:

1. Take 3 deep breaths. 2. Move your head side to side.3. Raise your arms over your head. 4. Tap your teeth together.

Can you feel the difference?

Aside from standing straight with your shoulders back and your head up, you can also improve your posture with some yoga exercises. This video will show you the mountain pose that you can use to start developing good posture.

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For more yoga poses to improve posture, you can try the poses below:

Table balancing Pose:

Boat Pose:

May posture bring you confidence!

Thanks,

Eliza

The Importance of a Meal

It seems like just yesterday I was asking if you were ready for the weekend- wow this week has gone by fast!

When was the last time you sat down with one or more people and had a meal? When I was younger before we got involved in everything, the one thing that was usually a given, was a dinner with the family. Hopefully you were lucky enough to have had the same experience. Now that I don't sit down with the family every night to eat, I am able to appreciate how great it was. Those 20 or 3o uninterrupted minutes that we all got to relax,eat a delicious meal prepared right at home, and talk about our day.

If you live at home with your family, or if you are on your own I would like to encourage you to plan a 'family' dinner night. Invite your friends over for a home-cooked meal. Make your children's favorite dish. Turn off your cell phones, take time to sit down, share stories from your day and enjoy a good meal.

For an interesting article on the importance of family dinners: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760,00.html

Merci, et Bon Appetite!

Eliza

Vitamin's on SALE!!

Happy belated hump day everyone! I hope you are having as nice of weather as I am here(I'm actually typing this on my patio).

Its important to stay healthy. Part of staying healthy is making sure that you get enough daily vitamins and minerals, which is why I thought I'd talk about a vitamin today. Did I mention how nice it is outside today? Spending time outside, especially when its nice and sunny, is an excellent way to get your daily intake of vitamin D. When the natural ultraviolet rays from the sun hit your skin, your body turns a chemical in your skin into D3. The D3 is transported to your liver where it is turned into the active vitamin D! Pretty interesting huh?

What you need to know about Vitamin D

• You have to be outside to get vitamin D from the sunlight. The UV rays that catalyzes the production of vitamin D cant cross through glass, so you have to be outside for this to work.
• Lighter skinned people need less sun exposure than do darker skinned people.
• To get the same amount of vitamin D from milk, as you get from the sun, you would have to drink more than 10 glasses of whole milk!
• Your body NEEDS vitamin D to process calcium. Without it, the calcium is going to waste. Vitamin D promotes the absorbtion of calcium in your intestines, where it is transported to your bones helping to keep them strong.
• Research has shown that vitamin D helps to prevent cancer. Vitamin D regulates the growth of cells, restricts blood supply to tumors, increases the death of cancer cells, and reduces the unlimited growth that is characterized by cancer cells.
• Most people do NOT get enough of this FREE vitamin! You need sun exposure for 10-30 minutes at least twice a week to get recommended amounts of Vitamin D.

Who woulda thought that you could be healthy while tanning? Enjoy a beautiful day, and get yourself some free vitamin D!

Thank ya for reading,

Eliza

"Blup Blup Blup"~ <>< Its good for the fish, and its good for you!

Hi everyone! Welcome new followers as well as returning ones, I am very glad to have you!! Before you sit down to read this, if you can, go grab yourself a glass of water to drink as you read.

Water covers a little more than 70% of the earth's surface, so as you can imagine, and hopefully already know, water is very important. Its not just important for the fish and other organisms that reside it it, but its good for us humans as well. Water makes up roughly 60-70% of our bodies and its very important to keep that supply replenished each day. Its recommended that you drink 8, 8oz servings of water per day. Although you can supplement your liquid intake with other things, making sure you get at least 64 oz of water a day is important to living a healthy lifestyle. >>>You can go to this website to see how much water you should be drinking a day, based on your weight, and how much you exercise: http://www.bloodindex.org/Human_Water_Requirement_Calculator.php <<<<

What water does for your body:

Water helps to maintain health as well as excretion of wastes through sweat and urine. Water is very important for the transportation of nutrients throughout your body. Water is vital for fat metabolism, and flushing toxic wastes from your body. Water helps to keep your joints lubricated and working properly. Your brain is made up of 85% water, so staying hydrated insures that your brain will run smoothly.

4 Tips for getting your daily water recommendation:

1. Spread your water consumption out throughout the day. Drinking it all at once could make you sick!

2. Carry a water bottle around with you. Now days there are tons of fancy water bottles of all shapes and sizes.

3. Sodas and coffee can dehydrate you. As a rule, I try to drink 1-2 glasses of water for each caffeinated liquid I drink.

4. Get a Brita or PUR water filter. This way your being green, and saving money (I'm sure you've seen the commercials), plus many people think filtered tap water tastes better.

I would like to thank you once again for reading. I hope that you learned a little about how important water is for your body to function properly. I always feel so refreshed on the days I drink my daily recommendation, and I think you will too. However I have one more glass to go for the day, so I gonna go ahead and get started.

Happy drinking,

Eliza

Did you know....

... that there are approximatly 2000 steps in a mile? On average we walk 10,000 steps per day, which is recommended to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Salut! How are ya doin today!?

I decided this morning what I was going to try and do today to make things a little better. As winter is coming up, I could use a few tips here and there so I can fit into my winter clothes. I decided that when I had to run my errands today, I would park farther away than I normally would so I could get a bit more exercise. So today, Ive been taking the long way, walking all the way around, and parking a lot farther away than I normally do. Unfortunately the day I picked to park farther away is also the day that it has been cold and rainy all day; I do not recommend this.

So, today, or whenever its not raining where you're at, park a little farther from the store, walk the long way around to put something away in your house, take your dog for an extra long walk today. You don't have to over do it, just a little but every day. I promise that when you're doing even this little bit of extra walking you'll be a little bit closer to that 10,000 steps thats that are recommended.

If you're interested in doing more than just a little bit, check out all these benefits that you can reap from walking 30 minutes a day!! ~>http://www.aarp.org/health/fitness/walking/a2004-06-17-walking-numerousbenefits.html

(haha)And if you need help walking, check out what Honda has for you: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/robolegs/

Show Appreciation with 2 EASY words.

Hi, how are you today? Thank you for taking the time to reay my blog, I really appreciate it!

While I was out getting lunch today, the lady in front of me reminded me of a common courtiousy that is often forgotten. Just two simple words; Thank you. When she thanked the cashier, I could hear the genuine appreciation in her voice. I'm sure that the cashier on the recieving end of that simple thank you, was happy to hear they were appreciated. After hearing the woman's thank you, I was reminded to say it myself throughout the rest of the day. Its nice to hear someone thank you. You know that whatever you're doing, however seemingly insignificant it may be, is appreciated.

Next time that you're out and the cashier gives you change, or a friend calls to make sure you're up after a long night of studying, or you finally get that letter you've been waiting for in the mail, make sure that you say thank you. Don't forget to let the people around you know that they are appreciated.

Thanks again for reading!
Eliza

DO, Whatcha Wanna DO!

Howdy ya'll! hope that your weekend is going swimmingly. My day was fabulous, one of the best I've had in a long time!

As you may have guessed by the title of today's entry, I going to encourage you to do something that makes you happy. Today I took a mini vacation and went to visit a museum that Ive been dying to see for quite a while. Several days before going, I couldn't decide if I should go or not. I really wanted to but I had a lot of work that I could have gotten caught up on, and I'm a believer that needs come before wants. At the last minute I gave in and did what I wanted to. As it turned out, it was one of the best days Ive had in a long time.

Is there something that you've been wanting to do but haven't because of necessities? Go ahead, do what it is that you've been wanting. Ya never know, it could turn out that you have an amazing day like I did.

Have fun and DO, whatcha wanna do! ~ Eliza

Focus on Breathing Away Stress

Thank goodness its Friday, its time to get excited for the weekend!

How many of you are into yoga, or meditation? Ive tried it a few times, ok, so maybe only when it was required in phys ed classes, but Ive heard from many people that it really helps to reduce stress. Unfortunatly if I get too stressed out I get tension headaches, which, if youve had them, you know they arent pleasent. Today when I got home, I took at 1o minute break from my day to do a meditation of sorts. A while back my doctor recommended that I take 10 minutes out of each day to be still and focus on my breathing. She said that sometimes with hectic scheduals and lots of stress our breathing gets unnoticably out of wack, however with this daily 'meditation' its easily reset.

If youre going through a lot of stress lately, take 1o mintues to be still, free your mind, and focus on your breathing. Even if you cant do it every day as was recommended, just doing it once helps to calm and relax you. Hopefully if you have been stressed, this meditation will relax you a little, and help to start your weekend off on the right note.

If youd like more information, feel free to check out: http://anxietytherapyonline.com/anxiety-support-book/anxiety-treatments/deep-breathing-exercises/

Or take a look at this youtube video